Microsoft meshes Skype into the heart of Outlook.com

Look out Gmail, Outlook.com just got a little more interesting. Microsoft has announced that it’s baking Skype into the email service.

The service is rolling out to UK users first, with the US and Germany set to follow in the coming weeks. The rest of the globe meanwhile will get the roll out “in the coming months”.

Once you’ve linked your Outlook.com account with Skype, you’ll be prompted to install a plugin on Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer to enable the integration.

According to Microsoft, the reason it’s chosen to integrate the two services is to make communicating easier:

Even with the best email service, sometimes text isn’t enough. We all face those situations where it’s just easier to jump on a call to talk something through. Sometimes that quick call can accomplish more than a long email reply. That’s why we are bringing Skype audio and video calling to your Outlook.com inbox. Now, with Skype for Outlook.com, you can choose the right medium for your message, whether it is an email, call, video call or instant message (IM) — you can connect with your Skype and Messenger friends all in the same place.

Of course a failure to include some form of video chat in the service would’ve meant Outlook.com always being a little behind Gmail, which baked in video chat (which transitioned into Google Hangouts) some time ago.